39 Years Old, Previous Chin Lipo Didn't Quite Get Me Where I Wanted

I've referenced this site so many times for procedures I have done or wanted to do that I felt it was time to give back and write my own review.

I had chin liposuction performed last year at Sonobello in Austin, Texas. It resulted in a definite improvement but didn't nearly get all the fat out...I can still see a bunch that robs me of a pronounced jawline. The lipo was painless and the recovery was very fast, but it was expensive and I haven't wanted to spend the money to go back in for another round. I'd heard of Kybella at the same time I was having the lipo performed, but I was turned off by the price, necessity of multiple rounds of treatments, pain, and prolonged swelling many complained of. At the time I felt like the lipo was a faster and more foolproof option.

I chose to have Kybella done now because the place I go to for laser hair removal, Skin Envy, was having a special that came up to $300/vial. I'm a big guy so I needed 2 vials. Not sure if others have gotten away with 1 or if 2 is par for the course. At any rate, $600 was significantly cheaper than another round of lipo, and since I have less fat there than I used to, I'm hopeful one round alone will get me closer to where Ive always wanted to end up.

I'm writing this review about 4 hours post procedure, so at this point I clearly don't know whether Kybella is worth it or not, but I wanted to post my most unflattering pics both before the procedure, and now as my chin is quickly swelling, to give anyone interested a sense of what they can expect.

All I can tell you now is that the injections themselves are fairly painless. You are getting poked for sure, but it's kind of like a Botox injection for those of you who have had them. Very small gauge needle, so not too brutal, but there are a lot of them. My practitioner didn't use the grid to give me more of what i wanted where I wanted it, so I don't know exactly how many pokes she gave me...probably somewhere between 15-20. Before she was even done giving me the injections the burning started at the first injection sites. It continued for about 2 hours, varying from almost nothing to as bad as burning your hand on a frying pan. Right now there is no active burning but I am very swollen and my whole chin is sensitive to the touch. Updates to follow.

Had the procedure yesterday and the swelling has pretty much remained the same as 4 hours post injection, perhaps gotten a little worse...it's hard to tell when there is this much disgusting mass there. The burning is completely gone and never came back after the first couple hours, but the entire area is very tender to the touch, including when I tilt my head down. The worst part of it at this point is mental...I didn't miss any work and so I'm showing up at the office looking like this. I don't know how conspicuous it really is, but it's made me very self-conscious. I wouldn't have gotten this procedure if I weren't already uneasy about my chin and now it's triple it's normal size. I'm trying to take it easy and remember this is just part of the process, but it's easy to start wondering wtf I just did to myself and if it will be at all worth it. I've heard people say swelling starts to subside around day 4, so I'll update at that point and not bore everyone with incremental changes that don't photograph well. Hopefully this journey will end positively and anyone else dealing with recovery can look at these Day 1 pics and take heart that the pain and embarrassment is temporary.

Had the procedure Monday and it's now Friday, which I'm counting as Day 4...so I guess injection day was Day 0 in my book. The swelling is definitely subsiding, as is the tenderness. I would rate whatever discomfort I feel when I touch it as 1 of 10, and no discomfort otherwise. I have thankfully not had any of the side effects some others have complained about...no numbness, chin wobble, or tingling. I recovered very quickly from the chin lipo too, so I'm guessing it might just be that I'm a beast. ???? Anyhoo, the worst part about this procedure continues to be mental. I still look worse than when I got the procedure done, and given the lack of results others have complained about in other reviews, I am still anxious about the possibility that nothing will have changed after all the time, money, and embarrassment. I notice the studies for Kybella seem to indicate that the best patient for the procedure has little skin laxity and small to moderate amounts of fat. I don't think laxity is an issue, but who knows how much fat the injections actually dissolved during my treatment. Maybe hardy anything! There's no way I'm doing 6 rounds of this stuff, so I hope things start tightening up soon!